"Raising the retirement age will help the judiciary function better and it will not cost the government much," Jaitley, a former union law minister, said delivering the Justice BK Ray memorial lecture.

The soaring number of cases pending before the High Courts and the Apex Court can be effectively handled if the retirement age of judges is raised, he said, adding that more number of judges would also play a significant role in ensuring their better functioning.

At present, Supreme Court judges retire at 65, while the retirement age of the High Court judges is 62 years. The problem relating to huge number of pending cases can also be tackled by filling up the vacancies in the courts as per the suggestions made by National Law Commission, Jaitley said during the lecture, organized in memory of the first Chief Justice of Orissa High Court.